A typical Dutch summer: Could the weather improve next week?

After a fairly decent June, July left much to be desired when it came to the weather. You would be forgiven for not noticing it, but summer is well underway here in the Netherlands, and while temperatures have been fairly cool and skies have been mostly grey recently, next week should see some slightly more seasonable weather with temperatures up to 25 degrees. 

Temperatures set to rise in August

Saturday and Sunday should see a mix of sunshine and showers throughout the day, with a chance of thunderstorms in Rotterdam and Groningen. Temperatures across the country will be between 19 and 22 degrees throughout the weekend. 

Heading into next week, the weather remains fairly changeable on Monday and Tuesday, with cool temperatures and a mixture of sunny skies and rain clouds - definitely not ideal August weather, especially for those staycationing this summer. Don’t worry though, the weather picture is set to improve from Wednesday. 

From July 11, temperatures will rise to between 22 and 25 degrees and fewer showers are expected. There will likely still be some cloud cover, but Amsterdam and The Hague can look forward to temperatures of 24 degrees in the second half of next week, while temperatures are expected to reach 26 degrees in Maastricht, Eindhoven, and Den Bosch. 

Typical summer weather for the Netherlands

Anyone who has only been in the Netherlands for a couple of years is probably used to experiencing summers with heatwaves and lots of sunshine. The sad news is that, as anyone who has been living here a little longer will recognise, 2021 is offering a fairly typical Dutch summer. 

Meteorologists that this is the first “normal” summer - with changeable weather, a fair amount of rain, and temperatures of 22 degrees - the Netherlands has seen in a while. "After years, we have a normal Dutch summer again," exclaims William Huizinga from Buienradar. 

July 2021 had an average temperature of 18 degrees - only slightly lower than the July average of 18,3 degrees - and average levels of precipitation (80 millimetres). "If we now have a summer that is normal by Dutch standards, we immediately write it off as a bad summer," Huizinga explains. So don’t worry, this isn’t a bad summer - it’s just a normal summer!